Zack Hample has snagged 8,296 baseballs at 51 different major league stadiums since 1990. Find out how and see what else he's been up to.

FINAL STATS — 2008

You asked for it.You got it.Here are my final ball-snagging stats from the 2008 season…

2008 TOTALS:? 73 games attended (including two without batting practice)? 13 stadiums? 543 balls? 7.4 balls per game? Most balls at one game: 28? Fewest balls at one game: 2? 23 games with at least 10 balls? 13 game balls (not counting game-used balls that get tossed into the crowd)? 1 game ball every 5.6 games

BALLS BY MONTH:? April — 94? May — 31? June — 94? July — 51? August — 138? September — 131? October — 4

STADIUMS OUTSIDE OF NYC:? 36 games attended? 346 balls? 9.6 balls per game

RECORDS:? Most balls in one season: 543? Most balls in two consecutive seasons: 859? Most balls in one season outside of New York City: 346? Most balls in one month: 138? Most balls in one week: 70? Most balls at one game: 28? Most balls at two consecutive games: 38? Most balls at three consecutive games: 48? Most home run balls during games in one season: 5? Most balls at one World Series game: 4

ULTIMATE HIGHLIGHT:? Catching the last home run ever hit by a Mets player at Shea Stadium. CLICK HERE for the video.

LIFETIME TOTALS:? 3,820 balls? 124 game balls? 1,087 balls outside of NYC? 25 game balls outside of NYC? 44 major league stadiums with at least one ball? 1,006 players and coaches who’ve thrown balls to me (including 117 new ones this year)? 751 games attended (approximation)

CURRENT STREAKS:? 569 total consecutive games with at least one ball? 338 consecutive Mets home games games with at least one ball? 142 consecutive games outside of NYC with at least one ball? 128 consecutive Yankees home games with at least one ball? 61 consecutive Yankees home games with at least two balls? 14 consecutive Watch With Zack games with at least two balls? 11 consecutive seasons with at least 100 balls? 10 consecutive seasons with at least one game ball? 10 consecutive post-season games with at least one ball? 5 consecutive seasons with at least 200 balls? 4 consecutive World Series games with at least one ball? 2 consecutive Home Run Derbies with at least three balls? 2 consecutive seasons with at least 300 balls

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WOW! You are definitely OBSESSED with statistics! I wish I would have kept track of a lot more than just how many balls I have caught at each game. It is actually pretty cool to see all of your stats! I guess I will have to start keeping more detailed stats of the balls I get.
We should really go on a Ballhawking Extravaganza along with Rockpile Ranter in the Blog Mobile next season! How cool would that be! All baseball and all Ballhawking all the time! A game every day! Could you imagine?
It is crazy to think that between the 2 of us we have caught 6,649 baseballs at Major League Games and if you throw in spring training and minor league games it might be close to 9,000 baseballs!
Hopefully next year we will get to spend time at the ballpark and hang out instead of in a Shell Station across from NBC!
Have a great Thanksgiving!
John
Major League Ballhawkhttp://ballhawk.mlblogs.com
Author of “Taking Home A Piece Of The Game”
Available now at Amazon.com

2008 TOTALS:
? 56 games attended (i attended approximately 15 more, but went with no intention of snagging – these were non-BP games, such as Sundays)
? 2 stadiums
? 128 balls
? 2.29 balls per game
? Most balls at one game: 7
? Fewest balls at one game: 0
? Game Balls: 0

HIGHLIGHTS:
? Catching Ian Snell’s Batting Practice Hat after the final game of the season.
? Taking actual batting practice on the field of PNC Park on 9/24/08

LOWLIGHT:
? Badly injuring my leg on 7/8/08 after snagging one ball. I banged it off of a bleacher and it swelled up real quickly. It looked like a baseball was under my skin it was bulging so bad. I went to First Aid, and then went home to ice it. I missed most of batting practice and only ended up getting 1 ball that day, and it had a huge freakin’ H on it from the Houston Astros.

Z’man, the breakdown of your stats is freggin mindbending.
I plan to keep much better notes of each snagging. It’s all about the details, and when you snag several baseballs, the little details can escape you. Props to a record year for you man. You know me brotha, I’m going all out next season. It’s not like I could give you a run for your money, I’ve just set some personal goals (hopefully obtainable), I’d like to see if I can reach. I like Hawk’s idea…RV is ready, gas is cheap..it’s warm in March…Dhttp://baseballsnatcher.mlblogs.com/

Since I only snagged a few balls last year, I’ll include them in the following totals as 2008 was my first full year of snagging. I basically went for BP home runs without the use of a glove or cup trick.

Braves- thanks that worked, and zack i just sent in my picture, which i hate, but whatev.

as for my stats…
Well my season sucked. Only 53 balls. However, 32 of those came outside of YS so I guess it really is the hell of snagging. But (at least for this season) its quality not quantity. I got comm. Balls from the yanks Mets and nationals and the Futures Game. My only disappointments are getting shut out at the ASG and getting the only dirty ball at the Legends and Celebrities Softball game. Highlight: idk maybe David Prices auto in his debut/ final game at Yankee Stadium.

I can’t really think of how many balls/ autographs I got, I think around (maybe really of esimate) 300+ autographs? So here are some highlights:
Getting Last Pitch from Game 4 of the 2008 WS and Michel Hernandez Bat (sorry Zack)
Damon’s bat after the final game
All Star Week
25 Cubs autographs at Nationals Park
4 Batting Gloves, 3 Bats, 2 Wristbands Total

2008 TOTALS:
· 32 games attended (Like Erik, I attended 12-14 more games where I didn’t attempt to get any balls)
· 5 ballparks
· 179 baseballs
· 5.5 balls per game
· Most at balls at one game: 12
· Least at one game: 0 (Where else but Yankee Stadium of course)
· Game balls: 1 (foul ball not caught off fly)
BALLS BY MONTH
· April: 9
· May: 15
· June: 25
· July: 16
· August: 40
· September: 74
BALLS BY STADIUM:
· Nationals Park: 167 balls in 24 games, 6.9 ball AVG
· Camden Yards: 7 balls in 5 games, 1.4 ball AVG
· PNC Park: 4 balls in 1 game, 4 ball AVG (skilled at math)
· Shea Stadium: 1 ball in 1 game, 1 ball AVG
· Yankee Stadium: 0 balls in 1 game, 0 ball AVG
RECORDS:
· Basically every snagging record you can think of. (I’m thinking the new ballpark helped me a bit)
MILESTONES:
· 200th ball of career: Placed in my glove by home plate umpire Scott Barry after game.
· 100th ball of 2008: Thrown by Nationals strength and conditioning coach in right field outfield seats.
· 100th ball at Nationals Park: Thrown by Les Walrond in right field outfield seats.
BONUS ITEMS:
· Willie Harris game used bat. (He just walked out of the dugout into the camera pit with four perfect Maroone bats and started handing them out. Weirdest thing.)
· Wil Nieves game used bat (Last day, [game was rained out] of the season. He just flipped it on top of the dugout)
· David Wright’s batting glove — Randomly flipped on dugout after game.
· Adrian Gonzalez’s navy blue “pro hitter”. That’s the little thing hitters wear on their thumbs. For me, I always think of Josh Hamilton sticking it in his mouth after he singles.
COMMEMORATIVE BALLS:
Nationals Park Inaugural Season: 35-45 (Approximation)
Shea Stadium Final Season: 4 balls (All scruffed up) :C
HIGH POINTS:
· Having Saul Rivera throw me my record breaking 10th ball (eventually got 12) on 9/3/08. After I thanked him profusely, he did a “your welcome” dance that is indescribable.
· Sneaking into the visitors clubhouse at Nationals Park and doing my business in the bathroom urinals. It wasn’t on a game day of course, but rather on an “Open House”
· Saving an old man’s life (or skull). Your basic BP home run catch right in front of an unsuspecting fan’s face. I’m sure you’ve done it a hundred times, Zack.
LOW POINT:
· Here’s what happened: I was in the seats over the bullpen in left field at Nationals Park. Jon Rauch (when he was still with the Nats) threw a ball in between me and another kid without a glove. Rauch didn’t point or indicate who the ball was meant for, but the throw ended up drifting toward the other kid, but I kept shuffling over to try to catch it. Well, to make a long story short, I absolutely butchered the catch and the ball fell into the bullpen. Then Jon Rauch proceeded to criticize and taunt me for messing it up for both me and the other kid. I could care less about what Jon Rauch thinks, but I felt extremely bad about my horrendous error and screwing it up for the other kid. Would anyone care to look up Jon Rauch’s ERA after he was traded to Arizona? Anyone?
LIFETIME TOTALS:
· 289 balls
· 133 games (Estimation, which includes games I don’t attempt to get balls)
· 26 consecutive games with at least one ball.
· 24 consecutive games with at least one ball at Nationals Park.
· Games attended at 14 different major league ballparks:
–RFK Stadium: 67
–Nationals Park: 38
–Camden Yards: 10
–Shea Stadium: 6
–Yankee Stadium: 3
–AT&T Park: 2
–McAfee Coliseum: 2
–Dodger Stadium: 2
–Petco Park: 1
–Citizen?s Bank Park: 1
–Tropicana Field: 1
–Wrigley Park: 1
–U.S. Cellular Field: 1
–PNC Park: 1

BASEBALLS BY YEAR:
· 2005: 4
· 2006: 7
· 2007: 99
· 2008: 179

The AFL season has ended, so I’m going into hibernation now. Wake me up in mid February.

That is so sick that you got all those game balls. I only got one… but it was cool because I was sitting ’bout 7 rows behind the Red Sox batting box, and I was screaming at Julio Lugo, and he threw me the ball he was warming up with :).
My friend also gave me a ball from a clincher game in ’05 for the Sox that Ortiz hit, and this pas spring training, I ran into the street, stopped Jed Lowrie in his truck, and asked for an autograph.
-Elizabeth
redsoxgirl46.mlblogs.com

Aaron: Willie Harris did the same thing for me. He came out of the dugout with like 15 bats and handed them out. And one time Rick Peterson took around 10 batting gloves and flipped them over the dugout after the end of the game. Security kept 6 for themselves.

LIFETIME TOTALS:
? 574 balls
? 110 games attended (since I started snagging)
? 18 major league stadiums with at least one ball
? 276 players and coaches who have thrown me balls

CURRENT STREAKS:
? 110 consecutive games with at least one ball
? 47 consecutive games at Shea Stadium with at least one ball
? 57 consecutive games in NYC with at least one ball
? 53 consecutive games outside NYC with at least one ball

BALLS BY YEAR
? pre-2006 — 7
? 2006 —- 99
? 2007 —- 173
? 2008 —- 302

In other news, I will definitely be taking my picture today. Sorry for the delay.

JOHN-
9,000 balls between us…crazy to imagine. Congrats on your new book! And Haooy Thanksgiving to you too.

SIXTO-
Wow, if only I knew how to use/make stuff like that.

MIKE IN DETROIT-
Thanks.

METSMAINMAN-
It did take quite a while. Thanks for noticing. I don’t know if I could handle adding extra stats.

ERIK-
Nice! Sorry to hear about the injury, though.

ROCKPILE-
The RV, yes yes…I haven’t forgotten.

PUCKCOLLECTOR-
If it were me, here on my awesome Mac Powerbook G4, I’d just open the file and take a screen shot by pressing command-shift-4 and then saving it as a .jpg. Anyway, I got your pic, and naturally *I* love it, heh heh.

JOE-
Word.

BRAVES04-
Not bad!

GIN-If you’d asked me at the beginning of the season how many I expected to snag, I would’ve said around 200 to 250.

ALCO24-
Yeah, that W.S. ball was an amazing accomplishment.

AARON-
Nicely done. I’m convinced that Rauch is just trouble.

ELIZABETH-
Cool about Lugo.

KAYBEE-
Thanks.

DONNIE-
Thanks to you, I ended up wasting an hour watching various stuff on Shaq, including that hilarious clip when he curses live on the air. Wow, how had I missed THAT one?

RICKYMCENTIRE-
Thank you.

DAN IN DENVER-
Priceless.

RYAN-
Great meeting you too! I just sent you an email…

GREG-
VERY impressive stats, but only one ball at one game at Fenway? Yeesh.

Wow is all I can say! 2008 was my first year ballhawking and I attended 30 games (all at the Metrodome) I got a little more serious as the year progressed and got a record (for me) 5 balls in one game in the closing series against K.C. Most of my balls were throw to me by players. I have never caught a hit ball on the fly (B.P. or otherwise) I got two special balls (last season NYY and a Nationals ball) I also got Matt Guerrier’s game worn 9/11 hat. I think my total for the year was in the 20 range.

I don’t consider myself as true of a ballhawk as most on here. I don’t change shirts or hats to attract balls. I do however have a BIG glove which is a ploy that has been decent to me. However, the BIG glove is a one trick pony. I can’t really run after balls with any luck carrying that big thing. However, it was good for a lot of smiles and some toss ups that I know I would not have gotten otherwise.

I have mentioned before that the Dome is a horrible place to snag due to their stupid rules and limited BP accessibility. I look forward to 2009 where my goal will be 50 balls including some nice final season logo balls.

I noticed another thing, I am front and center in this picture at the Twins final season logo unveiling. I got confirmation that there will be logo balls as well. I am the bald guy with the Blue Hrbek jersey. The funny thing is that Hrbek is my absolute boyhood idol and I had no idea he was going to be there. Once he showed up I abandoned my front row post to go and tell him how big of a fan I am and get a picture with him. He was very nice and liked the fact I was rocking my Herbie jersey.

Yeah, the Fenway game was rough. BP was rained out, the game started 40 minutes late, and I didn’t get a ball until a minute after the game ended. One of the most stressful six-hour stretches of my life.

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